Fooling with nuts has led to another activity which has been pleasant though not very practical so far. Each spring, Dr. Brierley spends a couple of days with me trying to graft some of the named varieties to our available wild trees. We have raised nuts on some of the hickory scions grafted to the plentiful native bitternuts, but in general our grafts have failed. We have had good advice from many sources and have tried most everything but our successes have not been numerous enough to cause any inflation of the ego. We're inclined to think that the sudden wide variations of temperature which are common here in May, can be the controlling factor. We've made a few walnuts, hickories, and hicans grow, but still have too many zeroes for any complacency. This year may be our bonanza. Most of the grafts on some 40 trees are shooting buds. Perhaps it's the grafting tape we tried this spring. In 1948 we'll be able to write it all down in the book--and try again. Nuts are not the only food crops growing on trees. We have read the glowing reports of sweet pods of honey locust grown on such varieties as Millwood and Calhoun, as told by John Hershey and J. Russell Smith. Our Millwoods all killed the second winter and this year we're trying Calhoun. Meanwhile, we're hunting for a hardy, northern grown sweet tree. Miss Jones asked nut growers to tell me what they had and several interesting replies and samples were received. The quality of the pods varied all the way from the sweet Millwood to our native honey locusts, most of which are so bitter and astringent that they remind us of a combination of green persimmons and red pepper. No sensible animal will touch them. Cions were received from a tree in Omaha, Nebraska, through the courtesy of F. J. Adams. These were grafted on local trees this spring and perhaps they will answer all of our needs. Our attempts to grow better nuts in southern Minnesota have not caused even a ripple in the local economic situation, but it has been a lot of fun. Perhaps the greatest return so far is the interesting correspondence with like minded people in many localities. Amos Workman of Hurricane, Utah, sent seed of his best black and Persian walnuts, pecans and figs. The figs didn't even start (probably my ignorance), but we have trees coming from all the rest. J. Russell Smith has been most helpful with suggestions and the "Minnesota Horse Thief" as he calls me, has enjoyed his letters immensely. John Hershey has passed along some of his enthusiasm for trees and many others have contributed to the pleasure of a fascinating hobby. It's fun to grow trees even though some of the unusual things provide only exercise and entertainment. Our persimmons grew from seed, were transplanted and came through the first winter! One pawpaw is still trying to get ahead of the winter set-backs, and a Macedonian white pine (said to produce edible nuts) is doing fine. Perhaps I'm the biggest nut of all, but I'm happy about it!